T W Massengale – Church Growth

My outreach director seems to have difficulty keeping all the outreach ministries working. I have asked him to oversee all evangelism ministries, which includes home Bible study, visitor follow-up, canvassing and tract ministry, as well as several others. Nothing seems to be working very effectively. What do you suggest?

In order to maintain peak efficiency in your church’s outreach ministries, it’s important that you not place too many responsibilities on one individual. When an individual has two or three major responsibilities that’ll require considerable time, then it stands to reason that one or more will go lacking. This has often been the case with the church outreach director.

Too often one individual is given the title of “Outreach Director” and placed in charge of all home Bible studies, all visitor follow-up, all canvassing and tract distribution and every other outreach that the church might have. Outreach is too critical to allow any of these vital ministries to fumble and fall. By separating visitor follow-up, home Bible study and canvassing out of one general outreach department and into their own individual department, each with its own director, you allow all these ministries to flourish.

Remember, the key is balance. By organizing your outreach ministries in the above way, you better balance your resources to contribute to each area’s success. Also, you must balance the outreach ministries (“outward” directed ministries) with those aimed at the perfecting of the saints (“inward” directed ministries).

Overbalance in either of these two areas can cause problems, like having one leg shorter than the other. Too many churches are overbalanced on one side or the other by an extreme. Your structure may not have exactly the same number of inward and outward departments, but it shouldn’t be out of balance three or four departments. So I would say that while each of your church’s ministries is important, none of them should ever be accomplished at the expense of another.